From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Milford CA.

My giants, cucumbers, and squash are wilting durring the heat of the day. I am a very experianced gardener of 35 years. The plants are in the same area and under the same conditions as always with no previous year problems.
When the sun gets intense about 11 am they wilt terribly, if I water them they perk back up but only for a couple hours then around 2 pm they wilt again, if watered then they perk back up, then again at 5pm. I used a bale of straw around them to try and hold the moisture with no help. I have never had this issue before and have lived here 15 years. It is like the sun is more intense this year than ever before. I have set my timers and that is helping out, but I'm curious if anyone else in very Northern CA or Oregon is experiancing this? Any comments greatly appreciated, Thanks Jeff

6/11/2010 6:45:44 PM

El Paso TX.

That is a normal occurrence here in El Paso, TX (figure today is the coolest so far this week and it's sitting at 96 right now) anytime the temp gets into the mid 90s and up we have to mist the plants every hour or so in order to reduce the amount of time they wilt - Though the Watermelon plants seem to enjoy all the hot weather - shade cloth can help also but they seem to recover just fine once it cools down in the evening and the plants have been doing pretty well so far

6/11/2010 7:04:30 PM

Bethlehem CT

Maybe you have bacterial wilt.

6/11/2010 7:14:39 PM

Bethlehem CT

How about salts, did you use a different fertilizer this year? Too much salt (from a synthetic fertilizer) would definitely cause the plants to act as you describe.

6/11/2010 7:24:07 PM

Las Cruces NM

Good observation on the sun ... is an established fact ... but isn't your problem. I concur with JD ... we are not that far apart and it gets extreamly HOT here! Once it gets 90s and up the plants wilt. We've been 100+ the past week so that that time is now for us! But they can wilt in cooler areas too! With long term wilting from heat, leaves get thick, leathery, dry, brittle, green but somewhat dead! Recommendations are soakers, and/or misting, and/or shade cloth, and/or creativity. There can be other reason for wilt, bacterial wilt from cucumber beetle for example, but those types of wilt are rather permanent and don't recover with watering. As you have noted, watering them perks them up! So basically they need more water. Short explaination: AG are big leafed ... transpire heavily thus need to constantly replace water loss ... heat compounds water loss.

6/11/2010 8:20:13 PM

Milford CA.

JD many thanks for your input..just FYI these are wilting in 70 degree weather, the warmest we've had this year. Big Moon thank you as well..I looked into all the bacterial etc. wilts but my common sense told me it was not any of those because immidiate watering brought them back to life. I did not fertalize..but I appreciate your knowledge here, I'll keep that in mind. SW big thanks for your observation, I'm thinking from everyones take on this I need to bump up my sprinks to cover these intense parts of the day. I just have never had this problem in all my years of growing. Thanks pros! Jeff

6/12/2010 10:53:06 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

Try out using CO2 or LithOvit...It helps the leaves from flagging as much.....I have a problem plant I doused with CO2 and it did help......Cant hurt.....

You can get it thru Extreme Pumpkin store

Good luck

6/12/2010 12:10:16 PM